The Brandeis University chapter of Colleges Against Cancer, a nationwide collaboration of college students dedicated to the implementation of the programs and missions of the American Cancer Society, is seeking campus-wide support for a smoking policy that would limit smoking to designated areas around campus.

CAC chapter President Elizabeth Allen '14 said the club is looking to demonstrate community support for its initiative by speaking with members of the University administration, gaining the support of the Student Union, seeking acceptance of the proposal from the Rights and Responsibilities Committee, and surveying behaviors and opinions of student and faculty populations who were underrepresented in its past survey.
Current University policy prohibits smoking in buildings and less than 30 feet away from buildings.

According to a report by the Brandeis chapter of CAC dated Dec. 16, 2013, the policy "is ineffective at eliminating exposure to secondhand smoke in most places on campus."

Between April 22 and 25, 2013, CAC, with help from the Golding Health Center, conducted a survey sent to all undergraduate and graduate students that collected data on smoking habits of students and general interest in prohibition of smoking except in specially designated outdoor areas.

The survey received 1,006 responses. Only one percent of respondents were graduate students, while nine percent of respondents were international students as compared to a reported 14 percent international undergraduate population.

According to the survey, 28 percent of responding students said they smoked daily, three to five times a week, one to two times per week, or occasionally. "Occasionally" was the largest category for those who smoked, carrying 18 percent of respondents.

Findings from the survey included in the Brandeis CAC's December 2013 report indicated that 73 percent of respondents reported having been bothered by secondhand smoke.

Seventy-three percent also supported prohibiting smoking on campus, except in specifically designated outdoor areas.
The policy proposed by CAC to the administration and the Rights and Responsibilities Committee reads: "Smoking and vaporized tobacco products are prohibited in all University buildings (including the residence halls), in University vehicles, and in all outdoor areas except those clearly marked as designated areas."

According to Allen, details like the location and number of designated smoking spaces has yet to be determined.

Before working out the details, she said that CAC would "rather get the whole campus to be like, 'we really want this to happen.' We'd rather have the administration excited about making a new change." The group's immediate goal is to demonstrate campus-wide support in order to encourage the administration to adopt this policy.

Allen reported that the administration, including Senior Vice President for Students and Enrollment Andrew Flagel and Assistant Vice President for Health and Wellness Sheryl Sousa '90, has given the CAC a generally "positive" response regarding the proposal.

Sousa and Flagel did not respond to requests for comment by press time.

Allen said CAC also plans to seek support from the Student Union for the second time. The first time CAC sought Student Union support, the Senate "voted to not pass a resolution on the smoke-less initiative," wrote Student Union vice president Charlotte Franco '15 in an email to the Justice.

The Student Union chose not to do so for three reasons, according to Franco: the initiative could isolate students who smoke, particularly "a large international population" because "smoking is a large part of other cultures;" the University's enclosed campus, unlike smoke-free urban campuses, would be prohibitive to those who smoke; and the Senate sought to "protect the rights of students to smoke if they choose [to]."

According to Franco, "senators were instructed by myself to reach out to constituents in any way possible to gain more of an [insight] on the issue."

Class of 2014 Senator Andre Ve Tran said in an interview with the Justice that he spoke to "both friends and acquaintances who smoked and who didn't, both formally and informally," as well as with his brother who was a residential advisor on a smoke-free campus.

While he said he supported the initiative personally, he "could not support the plan as a whole." Class of 2014 Senator Annie Chen also favored speaking with constituents: "It was decided that we would spend a week speaking to the students we represent to garner different perspectives on the issue and return to make a more informed decision."

Reducing smoking privileges on U.S. college and university campuses appears to be a national trend. According to a report by the American Nonsmokers' Rights Foundation, currently 1,182 colleges and universities have 100 percent smoke-free campuses. "This number has grown from the 586 campuses of which we were aware two years earlier (October 2011)," according to the ANRF website.

The CAC effort has involved the work of many undergraduate students, including four CAC board members, about 10 club members, two Sociology practicum students and students from a Common Cause Community, according to Allen and Health Center Nurse Manager Diana Denning.

Denning said the Health Center shared information with CAC members showing "that other schools had started with some surveying to gauge community tobacco and nicotine use, interest in cessation programming and support for a policy change." The center also recommended that CAC bring their proposed policy changes to the University's Alcohol and Other Drug Task Force.

According to the CAC report, the task force recommended that the CAC utilize focus groups, continue to seek the support of the Student Union, gather information on implementation costs and present sample policy changes to the Department of Student Rights and Community Standards, Faculty Handbook committee and Human Resources.